


distorted in the heat of summer

by elfesteem



Series: Young and Menace [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, How Do I Tag, M/M, More characters to come, Multi, Nature, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated teen for language, Soft Kids, Summer, Tags Are Hard, lucas will appear later on along with his power, maybe some angst? we'll see, squad goals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-07-15 05:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16056617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfesteem/pseuds/elfesteem
Summary: the tip of my finger touches you and I know I'm not alone,we connect summers, we fall through the cracks of burning buildings.or, kids with superpowers discovering themselves and one another.





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> the kids have super powers !! list of them and some extra info in case you want to check them out -.  
> -Mark: [Leadership](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Leadership_Empowerment) and [Codification](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Codification)  
> -Renjun: [Life and Death Manipulation](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Life_and_Death_Manipulation)  
> -Jeno: [Healing](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Healing) and [Spark Manipulation](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Spark_Manipulation)  
> -Donghyuck: [Solar Empowerment](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Empowerment)  
> -Jaemin: [Compass Sense](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Compass_Sense) and [Sensory Tracking](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Sensory_Tracking)  
> -Chenle: [Child Prodigy](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Child_Prodigy)  
> -Jisung: [Temperature Manipulation](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Body_Temperature_Manipulation)
> 
> English is not my first language and this isn't proof read so i'm sorry in advance if something doesn't make sense or if there's any misspelling  
> also, this was supposed to be posted in july/august ? as it is set in summer, but i procrastinated (a Lot) and well, here we are

Their legs ached and their lungs burned. They ran nonstop under the unforgiving heat of summer towards an unknown place, following the sense of Jaemin. Donghyuck tripped and fell, scratching his knee, but ignored it and quickly got up again before Jisung who was just behind him could help him up, and kept on running. He could hear every foot that hit the ground, hear every breath the others took and see every one of them moving. And that made him feel euphoric. Made him never want to stop running. Made him cherish every one of them. They were special and unique, one of a kind, kids that could have not ended up together but did anyway.

  


Ten minutes later they entered the forest in the outskirts of their town and eventually slowed down. The trees covered the sun and mitigated some of the heat. They kept on following Jaemin between the countless trees and they ended up in front of a small cave in the top of a hill. 

Jaemin gestured for them to come inside. Once they were in, they sat down against the rough walls and enjoyed the cool and humid air that surrounded them while hearing the birds chirping happily outside. While Jisung helped to drop down the temperature some more, Jeno approached Donghyuck and sat next to him.

“Does it hurt?” He asked, referring to the scratch.

“A little.”

Jeno put his hand over the injury and his fingers started to sparkle. In a matter of seconds, Donghyuck’s skin was scratch free.

Donghyuck thanked him with a smile and rested his head on Jeno’s shoulder, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

Mark, who was just next to them, spoke up.

“So Jae, why did you brought us here?”

“You guys said you were boiling to death in Chenle’s backyard so I thought of a cool place and here we are.” Jaemin answered.

“Your power never fails to amaze me.” Renjun said.

“Hey, yours is pretty cool too.” Said Jaemin nudging him with his elbow

“Mine’s creepy.” Renjun pouted.

“The fuck are you saying, Huang. I absolutely love your power, it’s super cute.” Said Donghyuck from where he was sitting. “Except maybe for the death part,” Renjun huffed at that, “but still! Is amazing.”

“You really think so?” Asked Renjun, hesitantly.

“Hell yeah.” Answered Donghyuck nodding eagerly, Renjun blushed and muttered a low thank you, hiding his face on Jaemin’s shoulder. The latter just laughed and ruffled Renjun’s hair, smiling down at him affectionately. Jeno locked eyes with him and smirked, Jaemin just rolled his eyes and brought Renjun closer to him, the boy just let out a satisfied sigh and closed his eyes. Jaemin thought then of how much things had changed since Renjun, alongside with his little brother Chenle, had arrived to their small town 6 years ago.

  
  


⌀

  


It was August; Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung were hanging out at the park, laying on the soft, yet itchy grass under the shade of an oak. It was only the three of them that month because Mark had gone to Canada and Donghyuck to Jeju to visit their families and enjoy the last days of summer that were left, before school started again. The five of them had known each other since birth and knew everything about one another, everything except one thing that no one ever had the courage to speak up about, fearing of losing his friends over it, but that is a story for later.

  


Suddenly, Jisung spoke up. “This morning I saw a moving van at the end of my street. I think there’s a new family coming into town.”

That perked up Jaemin’s and Jeno’s interest, who incorporated and stared down at the younger boy in between. “Seriously?!” Exclaimed Jaemin happily. Jisung nodded in affirmation.

“I really hope they have kids our age,” said Jeno, “more friends!”

“My mom said that we are gonna greet them this evening, you guys can come too if you want.” Said Jisung.

Both Jeno and Jaemin agreed immediately and laid down again, already looking forward to 7pm.

  


When the hour arrived, the boys made their way to Jisung’s house, greeted his mom and told her that they were going to be going with them to greet the new neighbours. Jisung’s mom smiled and gave them the cookies she had baked for them to give as a present to the new family, then they exited the house and went down the street to the last house, which had been inhabited since Ms. Yang had moved out to live with her daughter a few years ago.

  


Jisung’s mom rang the doorbell as soon as they were at the main door, the three kids just behind her waiting anxiously.  From inside the house they hear a high pitched voice scream “Mom! There’s someone at the door!” Just a few seconds after, a young woman opened the door with to kids hidden behind her, she smiled warmly at the sight of the other three boys. Jisung’s mother was the first one to speak up, welcoming them to the neighbourhood and bowing slightly, Jaemin, Jisung and Jeno following her. She then encouraged them to give Ms. Huang the cookies but after seeing that none of the kids wanted to move, she stepped back, making them stand ahead and having no option but to have to approach the open door. They shyly stepped forward with Jisung in the middle and gave her the cookies, Ms. Huang took them and thanked them with a small bow, then reached behind her to make his sons step forward as well and introduced them, “This is Renjun, he turned 11 this year and this is Chenle-” before she could finish the sentence Chenle chimed in, “I’m turning 10 in 3 months!” He said happily. Ms. Park coed at him and the other three introduced themselves as well, “I’m Jeno and this is Jemin! We’re both 11 as well, I mean, Jaemin’s 11th birthday isn’t until next week, but still! Nice to meet you!”

“I’m Park Jisung. 9. Nice to meet you.”

  


That evening was filled with awkward moments at first but as the minutes passed by the boys got closer with each other, laughing happily. When Jisung’s mom came to pick them up Jaemin invited the two brothers to his birthday and told them that there they would also meet two of their friends. The boys went home smiling and happy.

⌀

  


How they all knew of each other’s powers was a mess and quite the story to tell.

It all started, of course, with Donghyuck.

  


“Let’s go hiking.” said a cheerful 13 year old Lee Donghyuck on a March Saturday. It was a sunny day slightly windy with no cloud in sight.

The rest of the boys had nothing else to do and agreed right away. They met up at Donghyuck’s after making a short trip to their houses to change their clothes into something more appropriate for the mountain and grabbing their backpacks, stuffing them with water, food and band-aids because  _ scratches.  _ Once they reached their destination they started to walk up the mountain with Donghyuck leading them from far away.

“How do you have this much stamina?” asked an exhausted Renjun when they stopped for a quick snack after nearly 3 hours of walking.

Donghyuck just shrugged, munching on his cereal bar, he  _ did  _ know why he had that much strength and was barely tired but he couldn’t just say to his friends ‘hey the sun makes all of my senses improve a whole lot, like i can smell a cake kilometers away and could run at full speed for 5 hours non stop, cool huh’ no, that wasn’t an option, they would think he was a freak and ditch him and he didn’t want to lose his friends over  _ that _ .

“I think it’s going to rain.” said Chenle staring at the horizon. They all turned to look as well and they could see dark clouds beginning to cover up the once clear blue sky. Donghyuck cursed under his breath and stood up, grabbing his backpack and motioning to his friends to do the same, “We should get out of here before it gets bad, spring showers can be dangerous.” The boys nodded and followed Donghyuck down the mountain.

It hadn’t even been half an hour when a slight drizzle started to fall, the boys picked up their pace but with the rain wetting th rocks they were walking on and making them slippery, Jisung fell.

“Shit! Jisung, are you ok? Can you walk?” asked Mark approaching the youngest quickly. Jisung tried to get up and winced in pain when he supported himself onto his left foot, “I think I twisted my ankle.” 

Jeno went by his side, crouched down and told him to get on his back, Jisung was reluctant at first, saying that he could go on by himself but when he limped and nearly fell again Mark forced him to allow Jeno to piggyback him. They continued walking much slower, drenched and with Mark besides Jeno incase the boy slipped or got tired, but what once had been drizzle now was Rain, with capital ‘R’ and everything, so they decided to take shelter under a huge tree and wait for the rain to stop or at least slow down.

Jeno sat Jisung carefully and then sat besides him, the other boys following suit.

“This is all your fault, Hyuck.” said Jaemin trembling and hugging himself.

“Excuse me but how’s  _ any _ of this my fault.” answered back Donghyuck.

“You were the one who came up with this idea, you should have at least checked the weather! Now Jisung’s hurt and it’s all because of you!”

“Hyung that’s not true.” said Jisung, but Jaemin didn’t hear him because Donghyuck was already talking while rising his voice.

“Why should I have checked the weather when the sky was completely clear! How was I supposed to know it would rain like this!”

“Shut up! Both of you! I don’t want to hear another word you have to say!” Shouted Mark with his eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed. Everyone turned to look at him completely shocked. Mark  _ never  _ got mad like this and specially he had never raised his voice to anyone of them.

When Donghyuck was about to protest he realized that no sound was leaving his mouth and looked at Jaemin, noticing that the other boy had a panicked look on his face and that, although he was moving his mouth, no sound was heard. Chenle noticed this and quickly turned to Mark, shaking him, “Hyung! hyung, they can’t speak! Why can’t they speak?” Mark suddenly opened his eyes and saw Chenle’s eyes welling up with tears; Jeno, Renjun and Jisung surrounding a crying and confused Donghyuck and Jaemin, and he realized what he had said ‘i don’t want to hear another word you have to say’.

“Fuck.” He cursed, he had tried so hard to keep his power under control but the stress had got the best of him and he had snapped, and now two of his best friends couldn’t talk and he had to fix that as soon as possible and then explain himself, he cursed again, “For fuck’s sake,” he muttered. “You can speak now.” Suddenly the crying of Donghyuck and Jaemin could be heard and they slumped forward, being catched by Renjun and Jeno who tried to calm them down while Chenle and Jisung joined to the hug. Once their cries stopped, they turned to Mark, who had stayed aside feeling too guilty to even comfort them. “Hyung,” croaked Donghyuck, “what the absolute fuck was that.”

Mark inhaled deeply,  _ well, this was bound to come one day anyways,  _ and spoke up.

“I- well, it’s like- no, not like, it  _ is  _ a power. I named it Leadership for obvious reasons and it only really works with people I’m really close with so- yeah. I found out when I was six and told Johnny hyung to give me my toy and he did right away and was so shocked because he clearly hadn't wanted to give it to me and I’ve never really used it with you guys but the stress got the best of me and-” Mark couldn’t finish because Jeno had started to laugh.

“What? What’s so funny?” He asked blinking in confusion.

“I just,” he started, “I thought I was the only one who had a strange power but it turns out I’m not. I can heal using sparks that come from the tips of my fingers, I could’ve healed Sungie when he fell but I didn’t want y’all thinking I was weird so..”

Mark just stared at him in disbelief, and then Donghyuck spoke up looking at Renjun, who had an amused look on his face, “You know when you asked me how I had that stamina and I just shrugged it off?” Renjun nodded. “Well I  _ do  _ know why I have it, it’s thanks to the sun, it makes all of my senses and abilities to improve a lot so that’s why I’m more active in summer and less in winter, the stronger the sun and heat are the stronger my senses get.” He finished with a small smile, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest.

“I actually have a power too? I can bring dead things to life and make things that are alive wither- actually it’s better if I just show you.” Renjun got up and grabbed a colorful flower and one that was about to wither completely and showed them, the first one changed from green and red to grey and the second one raised its petals and showed a beautiful pink color, the rest of the boys stared with amazement.

“Dude that’s so cool, what the heck.” Exclaimed Jeno looking with wide eyes at Renjun, who just blushed and looked down, “it’s actually kind of freaky but if you say so..”

They all went quiet for a few minutes, taking in everything, until Jaemin broke the silence, “I’m like a compass, I can know which direction we are going and can lead to any place that I think of with or without having been there physically.”

“That explains how you have such a good orientation sense! And how you always take us to the best places when we go out!” Exclaims Chenle and Jaemin just chuckles and nods.

“So, umm- any more powers we need to know of?” asks Mark looking at Jisung and Chenle. The latter turned his head to the side and spoke, “Do you remember when last year the school wanted me to skip a few grades but I refused to do so?” They all nod, remembering how proud was Chenle’s mother when his son was given such an opportunity and how mad she got when Chenle turned it down. “Well I- The excuse I gave was because I didn’t want to leave Jisung alone when all of you graduate from High School, which is not exactly an ‘excuse’ because I  _ don’t _ want him to be alone but- yeah, the reason they wanted me to do that was because they said I am exceptionally gifted but the real reason as why they think that way is because I’m what they call a Child Prodigy, it was Renjun hyung who found out about that term tho-”

“Hold on, hold on.” Interrupted Donghyuck, “so you’re telling me that Renjun knew about you power and probably you knew about his too? And you didn’t tell us?” 

It was Renjun who answered this time, “We kind of thought it was genetic, as we are brothers and all, we never really thought about other people having special abilities or any if that and we definitely didn’t want to scare all of you so we decided not to say anything and keep it a secret.”

“Well, they have a point so I guess that’s fair, considering none of us told anyone about their powers.” Said Jeno.

“But.. what about Jisung?” inquired Jaemin looking at the youngest, who hadn’t talked yet and has just sat there listening. He looked back at his hyung and then at rest on them; they were all looking at his expectantly, the rain kept on falling behind their backs, but now was much softer than before.

“I can control the temperature, whether it is mine’s or other person’s corporal heat or my surroundings. I only found out about last January and yeah, I still can’t control it really well so don’t ask me to warm you all up because I don’t want to kill any of you.”

  


After the last of them had opened up about their ability they remained silent, assimilating everything. The rain had finally stopped and the sun was beginning  to filter through the clouds. The air smelled like wet soil and nature. The birds chirped happily in the distance.

  


“Jeno hyung?”

“Yes, Sungie?”

“Can you heal my ankle so we can get the fuck out of here?”

“Language!” Exclaimed Mark. Jeno laughed and approached Jisung, in no time his ankle was all healed and he could stand again. They all grabbed their belongings and got out from under the tree.

“Nana,” said Donghyuck, “get us out of here. Also we’re all sleeping over at my house whether y’all like it or not, period.”

  


They started to walk. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have made it 'till here, thank you so much for reading and i'm sorry if it was kinda boring ? i had to add some background and somewhat explain a lil about their powers.  
> if you have any question leave them in the comments and i'll answer them !
> 
> see you in the next chapter !


	2. Bond (Pt. 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry for the delay but senior year is going to be the absolute death of me  
> anyways, i hope you enjoy this chapter !

They were at Mark’s when it happened. Everyone had already started high school (except Jisung and Chenle, but they tried not to remind them of that), Mark was already in his sophomore year and the 00 liners had just started their freshman year.

It was Friday and they were having a sleepover, bodies upon bodies cuddling under warm blankets in the comfort of Mark’s bedroom. It was past midnight but neither of the boys were close to falling asleep, wide awake while they chatted about everything and nothing.

Chenle was the first one to notice.

“My forearm is glowing.” He said calmly despite the odd occurrence, the talking died down and everyone turned to look at him. Jaemin, the closest to him, grabbed his arm and bent down to look at it better and that was when Jisung saw something.

“Jaemin hyung, the back of your neck is also glowing.”

Jaemin sat up straight with wide eyes and tried to look at the back of his neck but failed miserably. He was about to ask what the hell was going on when suddenly a part on each of their bodies was glowing; Donghyuck’s wrist, Jeno’s ankle, Mark’s shoulder, Renjun’s cheek and Jisung’s hip.

All of them looked at each other in confusion, it had been a few years since they discovered of each other’s powers and just when they thought nothing could be weirder than that, this happened.

Then, as suddenly as the glow had appeared it disappeared, leaving in its place a tiny mark that consisted of a zero crossed off.

The next morning that mark had also disappeared, they would know the meaning of it weeks after the incident.

 

⌀

 

Mark was having a hell of a day, he was about to start his midterms so like the good student he was he studied a lot; and much to his friend’s despise, he hardly slept, this led to exhaustion and stress building up, which led him to the situation that had happened just an hour before.

Mark and Lucas have known each other since preschool, befriending one another immediately, and have stuck to each other’s side since then. They started dating at the start of their sophomore year after an awkward declaration on Lucas’ side and red cheeks on Mark’s, everything had been going perfect until today. Mark hadn’t meant to snap but when during lunch Lucas just kept talking while Mark was trying to go through his Chem notes for the last time before the exam he just couldn’t help himself.

“Shut the fuck up, Lucas. For once in your life, just  _ shut up _ .”

Lucas watched Mark pick up his notes and leave. He just sat there staring in disbelief as his boyfriend’s back disappeared when he exited the canteen.

 

⌀

 

When Mark was finally outside he sighed and sat down on the floor, resting his head against the wall and closing his eyes. He felt like he was the worst friend and boyfriend ever and wished for the week to come to a fucking end so he could sleep at least 8 hours like a proper human being and for the stress to disappear so he could function and talk normally without snapping at anyone.

After the bell rang signaling the end of lunch hour, he got up and grabbed his things, letting out another heavy sigh he headed to his next exam deciding to apologize to Lucas later and maybe take him to his favourite food place to make up for his outburst.

 

An hour later Mark came out of his classroom. He had bombed the exam, he was sure of it and it made a few tears of frustration spill. He wasn’t that good at Chemistry but he had studied a lot and feeling like he hadn’t when he saw the exam paper made him like a fucking failure.

Those few tears turned into more and before knowing it he was running to the next bathroom and locking himself inside the first stall he saw.

He sat on the lid of the toilet, his head between his hands and sobbing desperately.

_ “I just need someone, anyone”. _

 

⌀

 

Jeno and Renjun felt it at the same time, looking at each other in panic while their Math’s teacher carried on her explanation on  the  Pythagorean theorem.

A sudden feeling of sadness, stress and despair had invaded their chest’s and they felt like they couldn’t breathe, on top of that, the place where their mark had appeared was  _ burning _ . Without needing to talk, the packed their things and got out of the classroom as their teacher screamed at them to come back, but they truly couldn’t care; something was wrong and they were going to find out what it was.

Running down the corridor the bumped into Donghyuck and Jaemin, who shared Geology.

“You guys felt it too?” Asked Donghyuck, breathless.

“Yes,” answered Renjun, “do any of you know what is happening?”

“The bathroom on the first floor.”

The three of them turned to look at Jemin, who had just spoke.

“What?” Asked Jeno.

“I- I don’t know why but my Sense is telling me to go there.” 

Suddenly all of their phones vibrated with a new notification from their group chat. It was Chenle who had texted and the message simply read “ _ It’s Mark hyung _ .”

Without further do, the four teens raced to the nearest stairs and got to said bathroom in record time. As soon as they were in front of the door, another wave of sadness engulfed them, leaving them speechless for a few seconds before Jeno reacted and reached for the door, opening it and letting the other boys come in too.

At first they didn’t hear anything but just when Donghyuck was about to tell Jaemin if he was sure that this was where they were supposed to be, a soft sob coming from the second stall caught their attention, Donghyuck approached it carefully and knocked, “Mark hyung? Are you there?” It was silent for a minute before a shaky voice could be heard, “H- Hyuck? Is that you?” Donghyuck let out a sigh of relief before answering back.

“Yes hyung, it’s me. Injunnie, Jeno and Nana are here too, can you let us in?”

Almost immediately they heard the lock being unlocked and they wasted no time in opening the door. The sight inside broke their hearts; their always strong and happy hyung tears running non stop down his cheeks, who were flushed red, and was breathing heavily, shaking while his chest heaved. Donghyuck was the first one to react being, out of the four of them, the closest with Mark. He knelt so he was head level with his hyung and softly unentangled Mark hand’s from his hair and held them on his own. “Breathe with me, hyung.” He instructed. Mark nodded weakly and followed Donghyuck’s instructions until he managed to calm down. Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun, who had been watching from the little stall’s door, couldn’t help but feel a rush of affection for their best friend when Donghyuck started to wipe away the remnants of Mark’s tears and pulled him into a hug, kissing softly his temple when they stood up to exit.

Jeno grabbed Mark’s backpack which had been left forgotten and they left the bathroom, Mark still sniffling from time to time.

Just as they reached the entrance the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

“Hyung, are you okay to drive? If you’re not I can call my mom to come and pick us up.” Offered Jaemin, but Mark turned him down, “Don’t worry Jae, I’m okay now, let’s go.” He started his way to the parking, and the four freshmen looked at each other with worry but decided to follow their hyung down to his car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, if you have any questions leave them in the comments !

**Author's Note:**

> if you have made it 'till here, thank you so much for reading and i'm sorry if it was kinda boring ? i had to add some background and somewhat explain a lil about their powers.  
> if you have any question leave them in the comments and i'll answer them !
> 
> see you in the next chapter !


End file.
